Question

how were southern states able to circumvent (get around) the reconstruction amendments, limiting african american voting and citizenship rights? provide specific examples to support your response.

Explanation:

Answer:

Southern states used poll - taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses to circumvent the Reconstruction Amendments. Poll - taxes required voters to pay a fee, which many African Americans could not afford. Literacy tests were administered in a discriminatory way, with white voters often given easier questions or having the rules bent in their favor. Grandfather clauses exempted from literacy tests and other requirements those whose ancestors had been eligible to vote before 1867, effectively excluding most African Americans whose ancestors were enslaved and thus ineligible to vote.